Guatemalans Pick Through Debris After Riot
Tue May 6, 2003 10:28 PM ET
By Greg Brosnan
CHICACAO, Guatemala (Reuters) - Poor coffee workers picked through the charred remains of their village on Tuesday after thousands of former paramilitary fighters in southern Guatemala rioted to demand pay for their service in the long civil war.
"Everything is gone, everything is ruined," said Oscar Porres, 47, owner of a local hardware store that was burned to the ground. His father built the store 35 years ago.
His wife, tears streaming down her face, scooped smoldering timber into a wheelbarrow with the help of their sons, a scene reminiscent of the 36-year war in this region where rebels often burned down the plantation houses of wealthy landowners.
In nearby San Francisco Zapotitlan, the former fighters freed one of two politicians seized during Monday night rioting, while hundreds of former fighters still held a mayor.
Fernando Tercero, governor of the coffee-growing department of Suchitepequez, was released unharmed late on Monday after being held for six hours, police said. In San Miguel Panan, hundreds of former fighters still held Mayor Juan Coche.
"None of this is my fault," a tired-looking Coche told Reuters at town hall, where he was guarded by some 200 unarmed ex-fighters wearing cowboy hats and sandals on Tuesday.
The men were among former "civilian patrollers" across the province protesting President Alfonso Portillo's plan to pay them $672 each for their services during the war.
Police said the ex-fighters rioted because only a fraction of those seeking payment were deemed entitled to compensation.
"We all fought for the army," said Angel Yancor. "We've been tricked."
"Justice, Justice, Justice," shouted a crowd surrounding him, waving fists in the air.
The patrollers were often farmers forced by the army to hunt down leftist guerrillas during the 1960-1996 conflict. Most of the estimated 200,000 people killed in the war were Maya Indians, according to rights groups which say civilian patrollers took part in the massacres of thousands.
In Chicacao, a medium-sized town of multicolored wooden-fronted shops and houses, all that was left of the large municipal complex was a soccer-field-sized smoldering mass of twisted metal and melted plastic chairs.
Papers documenting births and deaths lay scattered and charred as children and women, many barefoot, combed the smoking ash for anything of value.
A market, a library and the mayor's house were burned down. Five policemen stood by helpless during the riots.
Local council member Luis Ramirez said many ex-fighters were fired from coffee farms as the price fell in recent years and saw the offer of cash as a godsend. But of about 7,000 ex-patrollers from town, 220 made the list for compensation.
"These people are the poorest of the poor and Portillo offered them money," he said. "He raised their expectations."
Critics say the compensation plan is a bid for votes by the ruling Guatemalan Republican Front party in November elections. Efrain Rios Montt -- the former military dictator who created the civilian patrols in 1982 -- plans to run for president.
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